


Vanessa

by soitgoes



Series: ramblers ramblin' [2]
Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-12
Updated: 2014-09-12
Packaged: 2018-02-17 02:45:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2294042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soitgoes/pseuds/soitgoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Kate meets Vanessa, it is anything but pleasant. It happens like this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vanessa

**Author's Note:**

> a little bit more dialogue heavy. kind of long and boring...which is pretty typical of me at this point in my life. anyway I kind of just wanted to play around with Kate and Seth's dialogue and the nature of their relationship.

After the first month, Seth and Kate begin to run dangerously low on provisions. With more than a little bit of bitterness on both their parts, they pawn off the shiny, sleek convertible for some easy cash. Seth hot wires a pick up truck they found out back of a bar and then they are off again. But before long even that money begins to dry up. Between Seth’s drinking and Kate’s constant “whining for food", they are hemorrhaging cash. It isnʻt long they’re at each other’s throats nearly everyday frustrated at their situation.

“You know our money would last a lot longer if you’d stop spending thirty bucks on shots every time you see a bar,” Kate hisses one night when they are parked in a parking lot of some supermarket in a town that Sethʻs already forgotten the name of.

“ _God_! This again!”

“Do _not_ take the Lord’s name in vain,” Kate says after gasping in horror, ever the preacher’s daughter.

Seth rolls his eyes because he’s heard her do it on more than one occasion. She’s just pointing it out now to irritate him.

“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t say, kiddo.”

“Don’t call me that. You _know_ I can’t _stand_ when you call me that.”

“I _do_ know that’s why I called you that, kiddo.”

“ _Seth_ ,” Kate warned but takes it as a dare and he smirks as he replies.

“What, _kiddo_?”

Kate makes a noise that’s a cross between a groan and a screech and Seth just rolls his eyes. He slams his hands down to the steering wheel then puts his forehead against his thumbs.

“Maybe,” Kate mumbles and Seth already knows what she’s going to suggest. “Maybe we should pull a job. Just a small one, a convenience store or something.”

“Hell no, Kate. I told you we’re not doing that.”

“Why not? You said that you and Richie used to pull them off all the time when you were kids. Easy peasy lemon squeezy remember?”

Seth rolls his eyes for about the fiftieth time that day and slams his head to his hands again. He had told her that when he had been especially smashed, his eyes misted over with the ghosts of glory days past. He regrets it now that she’s able to use it against him. He wasn’t ever going to tell her but she is definitely right, he should stop drinking so much.

“Well _Richie_ knew how to shoot. _You_ don’t. That makes you piss poor back up.”

“Then teach me how to shoot,” she shoots back quick as lightning.

She’s been dropping subtle hints about wanting to learn for a couple weeks now but Seth has shot down every single one of them effectively. He doesn’t have a problem doing so again.

“No,” he says in a tone that Kate knows by now is better not to argue against.

“Then we’re screwed.”

Seth just shakes his head grinding his forehead into the nails of his thumbs. They grow quiet leaving the terrifying truth of her statement hanging in the air. Neither Kate nor Seth has ever been very good at math but it isn’t about numbers but instinct. They could practically feel their provisions slipping between their fingers. They had to figure out a way to make some money. This time it is Seth who breaks the silence.

“There’s one other option.”

Kate looks at him expectantly but he doesn’t continue. He starts up the engine and then they’re gone. 

* * *

They wait for Vanessa for at a motel near the border. Despite her relentless questioning, Kate barely knows more than Vanessa’s name. Seth is playing the whole affair so close the chest that Kate is almost scared to meet the woman that Seth only speaks about in abrupt, disjointed sentences. Still Kate peeks out of the heavy motel curtains every couple of minutes, letting a flash of blinding yellow light slice through the dim room. She does this for nearly half an hour before Seth, who had flopped down on the bed as soon as they arrived, grumbles at her to stop letting the damn light in. Kate rolls her eyes and switches her seat to look out of the other corner of the window. It has been nearly a month and a half since she’s even spoken more than a few words to anyone other than Seth. The thought of finally getting to actually have a conversation with someone else makes her giddy.

Kate knows instinctually which car is Vanessa’s. It’s a clean, new, super duty truck that she’s seen the rich kids back in Bethel roll up in on the first day of school. The sun flashes off the shiny bumper and the blue oval that reads “Ford” on the front of the truck winks at her from as the truck turns into the parking lot. It pulls into the parking space about three spaces down from their room. Then after a minute or so after the engine dies a woman steps out of the car. Kate hops up from her seat nearly knocking over the shitty coffee table in front of her and dashes over to Seth.

“She’s here. Wake up already,” Kate hisses as she shakes Seth furiously.

He moans and grumbles at her about a hang over and how he’s gonna throw up on her if she doesn’t stop. Kate is about ready to dump a bucket of cold water on him before she hears two knocks at the door. She rushes over and before Seth can tell her to stop Kate is swinging the door open.

Vanessa isn’t what Kate expects mostly because Kate wasn’t sure what to expect at all. She’s tall and wiry. Her thin limbs are subtly muscular, her hips are narrow but she offsets them with a wide belt around her waist giving the illusion of an hourglass figure. She whips her large sunglasses off too squint down at her with angry grey eyes.

“Who the hell are you?”

Kate’s so excited that the hostility in Vanessa’s question doesn’t even register.

“I’m Kate,” she squeaks and holds her hand out but the pulls it back once she notices the way Vanessa’s eyes narrow as she glances down at Kate’s out-stretched hand. “You’re Vanessa?”

Vanessa crosses her arms just below her chest and gives Kate a slow once over before letting out a soft snort of disbelief. She shakes her head then bellows, “ _SETH_!”

Vanessa pushes past Kate into the room scouring the room for Seth. When she spots him she makes a beeline for him the sound of her heeled boots make a rapid fire of dull thuds on the worn down motel carpet like thunder. There’s a resounding _smack_ that echoes through the room once she reaches her destination. Kate’s got her mouth hanging wide-open jaw nearly unhinged as Vanessa raises her hand to land another blow. She gets one more in before Seth catches her hand.

“What the hell?” he shouts at her catching her other wrist as she goes in for another blow with her free hand.

“Who the hell is the kid, Seth!” Vanessa screeches. “What the hell is wrong with you? She looks barely thirteen! You fucking sick bastard!”

Still in a daze, Kate beings to correct Vanessa on the subject of her age but Seth motions at her to stop. He lets go of one of Vanessa’s wrists and waves his hand towards the door signaling for Kate to go. She hesitates for second but Seth bulges his eyes and whispers low and furiously for her to leave before she makes things worse. So she does. The sun blinds her as she steps out the door in the dry Mexican heat.

 

It isn’t long before Kate gets tired of waiting. She walks up and down the sidewalk counting the doors, swinging her arms. She’s so bored she starts to hum old hymns to herself as she goes along. When she starts to outright sing them, Kate decides she’s waited long enough.

She doesn’t go in at first. Instead she leans in to the door slowly. Putting her the left side of her face up to the door, she listens in close for anything. The door is hot and she can barely hear anything. When she pulls away she puts her hand up to her cheek. The skin is hot and a little sweaty.

Next she decides to try cracking the door which to her relief is unlocked. The first thing she hears is Seth sighing. He sits on the edge of the bed hunched over his knees where his elbows rest. He had his head bowed like a figure of defeat. Vanessa stands close to him, almost between his legs. Kate watches as Vanessa raises a reluctant hand. It hovers over Seth’s head as though she means to comfort him but Vanessa drops her hand to her side again and moves away.

“What the hell were you thinking bringing the kid along?” Vanessa says. “You know how dangerous your life is. How the hell are you gonna drag a kid into all of this?”

“The job went bad,” Seth replied with the biggest understatement of the century. His voice is muffled. He is speaking to the floor still unwilling to life his head. “I got her caught up in it and she didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Oh bull _shit_ , Seth. Girls like her always got somewhere to go. She’s probably got some nice little granny back in the states chewing her titties worrying over her well-being.”

Seth doesn’t say anything. A nervous feeling tightens up in Kate’s chest and she already know what Vanessa is going to say next.

“Let me take her,” Vanessa says raising her hand again but this time she rests it kindly on his shoulder. “I can smuggle her back into the states get her somewhere safe. I can help her get back home.”

Terror seizes her and before Kate can stop herself she’s leaping through the open door shouting ‘no’.

Seth lifts his head at her sudden burst into the conversation. The two of them stare at her confused at first. Even though their entire conversation was about her in the first place they had somehow forgotten she actually existed. Seth and Vanessa had a habit of getting so lost and tied up in each other they forgot about everything else.

“I know you’re trying to be good to me by taking me with you but I’m not letting Seth leave me behind,” the words come spilling out so fast Kate isn’t fully aware of what she’s saying.

Vanessa walks over to her. She stands at least three inches taller than Kate and with her grey eyes flashing like blades Vanessa is an intimidating figure. Setting Kate with a critical eye, Vanessa leans in close and says, “You in love with him?”

“What?” Seth yelped.

Neither Kate nor Vanessa show any signs of noticing his outburst.

“He’s pretty enough but honey this one’s old enough to be your daddy,” Vanessa drawls and for the first time Kate notices her accent, slightly southern but mostly sass.

“Hey!” Seth exclaims scandalized at the thought of being a father, of being _Kate’s_ father. “Okay like older brother, _young_ uncle maybe. Thatʻs pushing it though.”

Again both Kate and Vanessa ignore him.

“It’s not like that.”

“It isn’t?” Vanessa replied still skeptical. 

“I’ve got a daddy and he was good man and I loved him but he’s dead now. My momma’s dead too and my brother’s – I don’t know what he is anymore. And Seth - ” she pauses and glances over at him. There is something in her gaze, something bright and blazing and so very sad that it makes Seth’s breath hitch. Before he can figure out what it is she turns back to Vanessa. “Seth is the only person Iʻve got left. He and I got unfinished business.”

Vanessa frowns still unconvinced. She takes a deep breath and then lets out a long heavy sigh. Seth settles a confused look at Kate, unsure of what she means by her last statement. He wonders briefly if she’s planning on killing him in his sleep when he least expects it. A creeping doubt shakes through him that maybe the past month has all been a set up, a long con. Sure she’s got more than a right to revenge considering the shit he’s put her through but it hurts to think that Kate might have been playing him all along. He decides quickly that Kate wouldnʻt do that. He thinks to himself that she doesnʻt have what it takes to pull a job like that even though he knows heʻs wrong. He remembers the way she chopped that culebra in half, the way her eyes went steely and dark when she told him how she put a piece of wood through her own old manʻs heart. Heʻs pretty sure Kate is capable of anything.

Then with much effort he forces himself to look at Vanessa. Her gaze flickers to him for a second and it scalds him but then in an instant she’s back to Kate.The full force of her glare is trained on the preacher’s daughter like she’s trying to burn the girl up into a crisp. He glances between them unsure of where the conversation will go. Vanessa is unpredictable at best and Kate’s got more than enough moxy and stupidity to try something stupid and start a fight. And although neither of them are paying any attention, Seth starts to fidget like heʻs an ant beneath a looking glass. Its the silence that disturbs him most. To his surprise, Vanessa is the one to break first. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she shakes her head and crosses her other arm over her chest.

“Look, you seem like a good kid and smart enough but there’s something you gotta know about the Gecko brothers,” she says shifting her weight to her left side, hips swinging like a pendulum. “They only care about themselves and each other. No one else. They’ll use you up until you are bone dry and then they’ll toss you aside, betray you.”

At the last two words Vanessa cranes her neck back so she can look over at Seth. He expects her to glare but there’s no anger in the way she looks at him this time. There is only a great sadness, cold hard disappointment and that makes Seth feel even worse.

“Thank you for trying to do right by me,” Kate says softly drawing Vanessa’s attention back to her. "But Iʻm staying."

With an expression halfway between affection and disappointment, Vanessa puts a hand to Kate’s cheek. It is soft and dry and her skin smells like floral perfume and cigarette smoke. Kate finds herself leaning into her touch. Kateʻs eyes sting as she feels the word "momma" burn the back of her throat. But Kate is well aware that Vanessa isnʻt her mother. Her mother never wore perfume. She never smoked cigarettes or drove trucks. Still when Vanessa pulls away after placing a quick peck on Kate’s cheek, Kate canʻt help but breath out the syllables of the word burning on her tongue. 

“Take care of yourself, kid,” Vanessa whispers in her ear then pats her cheek, which is still a little red and sticky from leaning on the door. 

Vanessa spins around to face Seth. The sudden motion whips her long black hair across her shoulders nearly swiping Kate in the face. She marches over to him and grabs him by the collar of his shirt. She pulls him in and kisses him on the lips, breathing in deeply the smell of his sweat mixed in with hotel soap and shampoo. Vanessa knows that it could be a long time before sheʻll ever see Seth Gecko again. She keeps the kiss like a photography and tucks it safely away.

“Here,” she huffs. She pulls a bundle of cash from her purse before hurrying over to the coffee table and slamming it down so hard it makes the whole table shake. “I knew you were calling for money. There’s five grand there and its all squeaky clean not that it’d matter much out here.”

Then she rushes to the door and Kate is almost certain Vanessa’s eyes are glassy when she pauses for a moment to tell her, “see you around, kid”. She goes out the door without closing it behind her. There is the roar of the engine, the scrap of tires across asphalt and then she is gone.

Seth ambles over to the table where the roll of bills sits. Looking more tired than Kate has ever seen him, he picks up the money, reaches for his jacket and walks out of the room. After a few seconds Kate follows after him jogging a little to catch up. They get into their truck and they leave too.

 

After some time, while rumbling down a highway basked in the deep yellow and red sunset, Kate says without any warning or preamble, “I liked her.”

“Uuuhf course you did,” Seth murmurs, his focus mainly on the road. “Come on, Kate. You barely even met her.”

“Can’t believe you let her get away,” she mumbles under her breath as though she didn’t hear what he said.

She leans against the truck door and pulls her feet up onto the seat. Her window is all the way down and she rests her head in the corner of the car window. The wind blows through her hair, blowing dust and sand into it. The air is cool and the sand warm. She closes her eyes and tries to remember what it was like to lay down in her mother’s lap while she ran her fingers through Kate's hair.

“Yeah yeah. Who are you? My shrink?” Seth replies but already he is resigned to whatever half-hearted criticism Kate has got to say.

“You’re _such_ an idiot for letting her go.”

“I know, I know.”

A giggle rumbles through Kate's chest. Seth chuckles as well but it doesnʻt feel right to laugh just yet. He's still troubled. He worries about what Vanessa said earlier. He worries how much of it is true and how much of it Kate believes is true. Most of all he worries that one day heʻs going to do exactly what Vanessa said he would, that he'll leave Kate behind, stranded and alone. He isnʻt like Richie. He canʻt see the light in her but he knows that sheʻs a good kid and that heʻs a snake just as much as his brother and he might squeeze the life out of her. He already knows that when it comes down to it (and he knows it will) no matter how much he likes Kate, how ever much heʻll grow to care for her, how much affection heʻll harbor for her, heʻs gonna have to choose. Richie or Kate. It isnʻt even a choice. It never was. Seth wonders if he's going to get her killed one day. 

"Seth?" Kate mumbles already half asleep breaking his train of thought. 

"Yeah?" Seth replies his voice shaking more than heʻd like.

"Can we get some burritos or something? I'm starving."

Seth smiles with true affection. Thinking to himself,  _Vanessaʻs wrong. Iʻm wrong. Everything is gonna be fine. It has to be._

"Whatever you want, princess."


End file.
